


Fanfic: The Meaning of Faith (Chapter 1)

by vega_voices



Series: The Meaning of Faith [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time; In Plain Sight
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-26
Updated: 2012-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-19 15:21:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/574746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vega_voices/pseuds/vega_voices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But when he woke from a restless sleep, reality sinking in, he still could not cry. A long repressed memory told him he should have known it was coming. He should have remembered the warnings about how nothing in the world came without a price.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fanfic: The Meaning of Faith (Chapter 1)

**Series:** The Meaning of Faith  
 **Chapter 1:** Merging  
 **Fandom:** Once Upon a Time; In Plain Sight  
 **Author:** [](http://vegawriters.livejournal.com/profile)[**vegawriters**](http://vegawriters.livejournal.com/) /[](http://regina-victoria.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://regina-victoria.livejournal.com/) **regina_victoria**  
 **Pairing:** Multiple.  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Timeframe/Spoilers:** Up through season 2 of OUAT/Post-series for Marshall in In Plain Sight.  
 **Warning:** Character death.  
 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything or anyone from Once Upon a Time or In Plain Sight. No one owns Faithful John because it’s a fairy tale. I do not make any money off of this endeavor but my offer to the powers that be always stands.

_Albuquerque, New Mexico_

Flashing lights. Red on blue on white on yellow. Slick pavement under his feet as he raced toward the yellow tape. The pink of the flare sparkling in his peripheral vision. Strong hands stopping him. Blue uniforms. Red paramedic windbreakers. Long, thin fingers at his bicep, pulling him back. The ring heavy on his hand. The screeching metal of the jaws of life. A voice. Her voice. For once, the voice of reason.

“Let them work, Marshall.”

Mary stood next to him, rain plastering her ponytail down around her shoulders. A year after Norah, and she’d finally lost the last of the baby weight. Her feet again tucked into boots and her tight shirts fished from the back of her closet. The water soaked through the black of her shirt and it clung to her like a wetsuit. A downpour in the desert meant flooding and accidents and car chases that flipped squad cars and left the occupants broken. Around them, rain pounded onto surfaces, a rat-a-tat of machinegun fire, drowning out the commands of the relief workers. He stood next to his former partner, waiting. Waiting. How had she known to be here? But she’d always known, somehow.

“Marshall!”

The partner, Abigail’s partner, approached. Slow motion, blood streaming from a cut to his temple, the soaked gauze ineffective. “Marshall, I’m sorry! She …”

He didn’t need to know. He could see as they pulled her from the car. Head bobbing, unresponsive, on a lifeless body. The neck snapped. Despite the efforts to shield him, he saw the pale skin, the blood soaked hair, the eyes that stared into nothingness.

It was not the same fear that gripped him when Mary had been shot and she clung to life. No, now it was an emptiness that wrapped its dark cloak about his shoulders. It was not a new feeling, but one he had not felt in decades. Not since he’d taken the fall for telling the truth, carrying secrets to an early grave. Not even Abigail knew. He’d been able to start over once, but now, the emptiness engulfed him. Lifeless eyes. Broken bodies. The rain falling, in machinegun fashion, from clouds that would clear by the end of the night. The floods would wash away the blood and the debris. The air would be clear. No one would ever know that on this spot, the emptiness had returned.

He did not feel the ring fall from his finger. He did not remember Mary putting him into her car and driving them to the morgue. He did not remember signing the paperwork or being driven home or even Mary’s call to Brandi, telling her sister to watch Norah so she could watch him. But when he woke from a restless sleep, reality sinking in, he still could not cry. A long repressed memory told him he should have known it was coming. He should have remembered the warnings about how nothing in the world came without a price.

***

_King William’s Realm_

Despite a late start to his day that included extra fussing over the King, who was nervous about Regina’s visit, John arrived at the dock as the ship finished anchoring. Their lands were not that distant. Regina’s realm was to the north, at the far end of the water. Beyond her world lay the struggling world of Prince Thomas and Princess Ella. To the West lay the lands of Avalon and beyond that, Camelot. To the South, King George and just beyond his reach, the barren lands of King Midas. Far to the South, beyond the borders of their treaty, the mountains glowed red, always, with the memories of the Ogre’s war.

But for all of their shared waters, it was King William’s realm that owned the economy of the waters. Regina’s people were farmers, growing pears and berries and the sweetest apples in all the realms. George’s people were shepherds, their wool sought after even by the ladies of Avalon, who were known for their weaving. Thomas’s kingdom, poor as it was, relied on the power of their tradesmen and seamstresses while Philip’s was known for its swordsmanship. There were times when John missed the easy world of George’s kingdom, when the sheep and the horses were all he worried for. But with each passing year, those memories slipped into a fog as thick as that which rolled from the sea. He loved William, as he had William’s father, Edward.

Regina’s people, once Leopold’s, might have been farmers, but they could make ships with the best of the carpenters in the world. Her vessel was a gift of the Gods themselves, crafted with gold and rubies along the finest wood. Her guard stood faithful and faceless, masked completely, as she rose to disembark. It was a new realm under Queen Regina and despite how well the crown fit her brow, he missed the girl he’d known once, long ago. The light was long gone from her eyes.

“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing. She regarded him with a vacant nod and he wondered if there was true pain in the loss of her husband or if instead she reveled in her freedom. Given the ship and the new guard, he had to suspect the latter. In silence, they walked up the hill to the castle, her ladies in waiting scurrying behind. One caught his eye, but he said nothing. At the throne room, she was announced and suddenly, turned to him and for an instant, a brief instant, there was the girl he knew.

“Thank you, John,” she whispered. Their eyes met and for a moment, they both reflected the memories of a man whom they both had loved. But it passed quickly and Regina was again The Queen. She swept her cloak around her shoulders and stepped through into the throne room. John closed the door behind them.

“Your Majesty,” Regina regarded the young king as she now regarded bugs. The King was Snow’s age, young and feisty, and a perfect pawn. The Marriage between Snow and William would be a simple one; Snow had no choice in the matter of who she married, and the curse Regina planned to utilize was one no one was aware of. She’d created it herself, with no help even from the little green and gold troll. The three steps of doom had been chosen and only the Ravens knew of her plans. Both William and Snow would die, and without an heir, his kingdom would fall to her rule. She would have the power of the seas at her disposal. Power had to be good for something.

William rose to greet her and she allowed herself the kiss of the king before taking a seat, annoyingly so, in the chair situated a step below his throne. “You have considered my proposition then?” The false diplomacy rolled so easily off her tongue.

“To marry the Princess Snow White?” William nodded. “It would be an honor, Your Majesty, to have our kingdoms merge.”

Regina leaned back in the chair, glad she’d all but thrown Snow onto the ship. The girl, at least, was grateful for adventure and regarded it as such. But she could leave the brat behind. Now all that had to happen was for Dear William to not fall prey to the spell already set in this castle. She could not undo Maleficent’s Curse, but she could keep it at bay as long as he didn’t open the room with the portrait of the Daughter of the King of the Golden Roof.

“I have the princess with me,” Regina said, unable to keep the sneer from her voice and glad that she was dealing with the young king and not his observant father. King Edward had been as beloved as her own dead husband, but it was clear William had a lot to learn and she was happy to exploit him. Had she been like that once? Naive and hopeful, willing to trust the words of the other leaders? No. She’d had her mother and Rumpelstiltskin’s heavy hands to train her. Her innocence had ended the moment her mother had ripped Daniel’s heart from his chest. William was talking to a servant, asking that John bring Snow White to the best rooms in the palace. There would be a dinner tonight to celebrate the betrothal, and of course Regina would be the guest of honor. She tuned out the orders, thinking instead of the long trip back to her realm and the labor she would need to utilize to renovate the Winter Castle into her permanent home. She preferred the stark lines and sleek countenance of the imposing structure. Leopold’s summer castle was too … storybook. Yes, she would need it for all political functions, but what was the point of being Queen if she couldn’t utilize more than one residence?

William was still extolling the importance of dowry’s and the bond that would be forged between their kingdoms and Regina paid just enough attention to respond appropriately. The more he talked the more she was sure she’d be able to control the entire transaction and everything that came after. None of this mattered anyway, he’d be dead by his wedding day.

She nodded and absently twirled magic tendrils around her fingers. He was nearing the end of his instructions and all she had to do was sign the paper that would seal Snow’s marriage to this twerp. Her conditions were simple: a union between their kingdoms in the event of war, a declaration that should William die without leaving an heir, Regina stood to control both realms, and her presentation of a dowry of a chest of gold, two horses (which was more than Snow deserved), and an apple tree. The pen was presented and she signed, rose from the uncomfortable chair, and followed the servant to the rooms that had been prepared.

Alone, she sank onto the bed and stared out the window at the sea. Alone, the thoughts she tried to ignore would not let her be and she watched the familiar figure of John, Faithful John, direct the unloading of Snow’s possessions. Her step-daughter stood on the pier, one lady-in-waiting to attend her. She looked scared and for the briefest instant, Regina let herself feel for the girl. She knew how it felt, to be wrapped into a marriage one hadn’t chosen. But it was her duty as a princess to go where directed. Gods help them all if William screwed this up. She’d blame Snow for that too.

She’d only ever been to this realm as queen. When she’d met Daniel, it was on her family land, far from the glittering seaport she now overlooked. What would it have been like, to run down the boardwalk hand in hand with the man she loved? They’d been headed back here, to a place of safety. Now she was leaving Snow here … was it some subliminal tweak of motherhood that led her to this pairing and not the offered one from Midas’ realm? She could have sent Snow off to study with the daughters of Avalon, but she couldn’t bear the idea that someday the girl would be more knowledgeable than her.

Daniel’s voice whispered at her, a pinch, a prayer of forgiveness. But she couldn’t. To have been trapped in a world of her mother’s making, set up by Snow’s betrayal, when she could have had this. This was as close to forgiveness as she would ever come. Snow would be a queen, married into a world without love or choice. Regina would still have control. A part of her wanted to find Daniel’s family, or at least John, and sit down to tea. Instead, she removed her cloak, called for her ladies in waiting, and prepared for dinner.

All things in time.

Snow would be dead soon enough.

_TBC …_


End file.
